THE SCHEDULE:                UW Indoor Preview
                                              Saturday, January 14, 2011
                                              Dempsey Indoor (UW)/Seattle, Wash.
                                              Running events 8 a.m.  Field events 9 a.m.
                                              Meet schedule        Heat sheets
                                              Live results
 
 
        Weekly release, with 2011 stats recap (PDF)
        2012 SPU Indoor T&F Quick Facts (PDF)
 
SEATTLE –From those who can go fast to those who can go far, to those who can do a little bit of everything, the Seattle Pacific Falcons are in the starting blocks for the 2012 indoor track and field season.
 
Fresh off of four individual championships – two for the women, two for the men – plus yet another Great Northwest Athletic Conference women's team title, the Falcons will run and jump into 2012 when they head across town to Dempsey Indoor on the University of Washington campus for Saturday's UW Indoor Preview.
 
Competition begins at 8 a.m. with running events, followed by the start of field events at 9 a.m.
 
This is one of four meets at Dempsey for the Falcons during the abbreviated indoor season. They will be back on Jan. 27-28 for the UW Invitational, Feb. 10-11 for the Husky Classic, and Feb. 12 for the UW Indoor Open. Depending on how many athletes are accepted for Saturday's meet, some SPU competitors might go to Oregon for the Portland Indoor on Sunday, Jan. 22. Falcons head coach Karl Lerum will make that decision at the appropriate time.
 
SPEAKING OF THE FALCONS
So far, it has been practice, practice, practice. SPU head coach Karl Lerum said the Falcons are ready for something a little different.
 
“They've been training all fall, and they're excited to come out and put on a uniform and get a little progress check,” he said.
 
Lerum said both teams have the potential to make themselves heard at the GNAC and at the national level.
 
“Our women's team is strong in the usual areas they've been strong in – sprints and jumpsand pole vault. And our middle distance is shaping up to be exciting this year,” he said. “Our women have the potential to score in the top 10 in the country again.
 
“I'm excited about our guys. We have some returning GNAC champions with Nate Johnson (pentathlon) and Nate Seely (800 meters), and we have some freshmen coming up who will have some scoring potential as well,” he added. “I believe our men have the ability to send kids to nationals and score some points.”
 




FALCONS 5K SET FOR JAN. 28
The fourth annual Falcons 5K Fun Run and Walk is scheduled for Homecoming Saturday, Jan. 28, at 10 a.m. at Green Lake. The course is one loop clockwise on the path that winds around the lake. The cost is $15 for adults, $5 for current SPU students, and free to runners under age 10. Registration begins at 9 a.m. Proceeds will be split between the Seattle Pacific track and cross country programs and Redeeming Soles, which provides Seattle-area organizations with new and gently used shoes, socks, and other assorted footwear.
 
T-shirts will be available for $5, and prizes will be awarded after the race. More information is available by calling (206) 281-2000, or by clicking on this link.
                                                                                    
In conjunction with the run, the Falcons will conduct a shoe drive for Redeeming Soles. Boxes will be available in the Royal Brougham Pavilion lobby during Homecoming week (Jan. 23-28) and at the two home men's basketball games that week (Jan. 26 and 28).
 
FALCONS IN A NUTSHELL
Among those on SPU's entry list for Saturday are its four returning conference champions.
 
Senior Ali Worthen (Coos Bay, Ore.) won the high jump and the long jump last winter, both for the second time, and followed that by winning the heptathlon title, among others, at GNAC outdoors in the spring. Junior Katy Gross (Everett, Wash./Cascade HS) was victorious in the pentathlon. (That event isn't on Saturday's card, but Gross is entered in the 60-meter hurdles, high jump, and long jump).
 
On the men's side, junior Nate Seely will be back in indoor competition after winning his second straight GNAC 800-meter crown last February. Also entered for the Falcons is junior multi-eventer Nate Johnson, the reigning conference heptathlon champion. With no hep competition in this meet, Johnson will focus on the 60-meter hurdles and the pole vault.
 
Seattle Pacific's women relied on depth to win their eighth consecutive GNAC indoor championship in 2011. Matter of fact, no team other than the Falcons has finished atop the pile since the conference began its sponsorship of indoor track and field in 2004.
 
Most of that depth is returning. Sophomore Kishia Mitchell (Puyallup, Wash./Rogers HS) scored in two of the sprint races last year at conference, including an All-GNAC third-place finish in the 400 meters. Sophomore BryAnne Wochnick (Portland, Ore.) also scored in two sprints for SPU, and junior Emily Quatier (Portland, Ore.) picked up points in the 400.
 
As always, the Falcons will have a solid distance corps, with senior Natty Plunkett (Bellevue, Wash./Newport HS), senior Heidi Laabs-Johnson (Salt Lake City, Utah) and sophomore Alli Cutting (Sequim, Wash./Sequim HS) all having scored in last year's GNAC meet.
 
Other returning GNAC point scorers in the field events are senior Brittany Aanstad (Lake Stevens, Wash./Lake, Stevens HS; fourth in the high jump), senior Terra Schumacher (Sublimity, Ore.;  third in the pole vault, fifth in the 60-meter hurdles), junior Trinna Miranda (Tigard, Ore., eighth in the triple jump; she's also a solid long jumper), and sophomore McKayla Fricker (Canby, Ore.; sixth in the high jump, but better known for her distance running, especially in the 800).
 
SPU junior Seely (Lynden, Wash./Lynden HS) is back in action after missing the fall cross country season with an injury. Last February, he became the Falcons' first male back-to-back GNAC champion since Chris Randolph won three straight long jump titles from 2004-06.
 
Johnson (Boise, Idaho) came into his own – and then some – as a multi-eventer. Not only did he win the indoor heptathlon, he then took the outdoor decathlon in May. In both cases, he came from behind after the first day of the two-day competition.
 
Other conference point scorers back for the Falcon men are sophomore Dusty Duncan (Lynden, Wash./Lynden HS; seventh in the 400 meters), junior Ryan Endresen (Portland, Ore.; fourth in the 60-meter hurdles), and senior Ray Zoellick (Bothell, Wash./Cedar Park Christian HS; fifth in the pole vault). Zoellick won the GNAC outdoor pole vault title in May.
 
SCOUTING THE UW INDOOR PREVIEW
With just four meets between the start of the season and GNAC, chances are limited to see what other conference schools have. The Falcons will get to check out a few of their rivals on Saturday, as Central Washington, Saint Martin's and Western Oregon are bringing both their men's and women's teams, and Western Washington has its men entered.
 
Ali Worthen, a master a juggling numerous events on any given meet day, is entered in the 60 hurdles, high jump, long jump, and the 4x400 relay. Kishia Mitchell and BryAnne Wochnick are entered in all three sprints, plus the 4x400 relay. Trinna Miranda is in both the long and triple jump.
 
One of the intriguing possibilities for Seattle Pacific this year is some punch in the 800 meters with sophomore McKayla Fricker and freshman Jasmine Johnson (Federal Way, Wash./Federal Way HS). Johnson ran second in the 800 at the Class 4A (large school) Washington state high school meet last spring, and Fricker was fourth at Class 6A (large school) Oregon high school state meet as a senior in 2010.
 
With just a couple of exceptions, most of the SPU men are entered in just one event apiece. That includes Dusty Duncan in the 400, Nate Seely in the 800, junior Jordan Wolfe (Bend, Ore.) in the 3,000, and senior Ray Zoellick in the pole vault.
 
Junior Ryan Endresen, known here for his talent in the 400-meter hurdles outdoors, also is a solid open 400 runner, and he's entered in that race on Saturday. Junior AJ Baker (AuGres, Mich.), who established himself as one of the GNAC's best outdoor 3,000-meter steeplechasers last spring, will run 3,000 on Saturday – but this time without the hurdles and water jump.
 
Freshman Alex Horton (Kentridge, Wash./Kentridge HS), who led the SPU pack in one of last fall's cross country meets before his season was shut down by an injury, is in the mile, as is junior Seth Pierson (Cashmere, Wash./Cashmere HS), the front runner for the Falcons at the NCAA West Regional cross country championships in November.
 
ONE FOR THE BOOKS: 2011 FALCON RECORDS
Just one new SPU record was set in 2011. Billy Martin wound up with a personal best of 48-7 ½ /14.82 meters in the 35-pound weight throw. While that mark came at the GNAC Championships, he actually broke the record a week earlier at the UW Indoor Open when he threw 45-3.
 
Ray Zoellick, in his first year back as a pole vaulter after two years away from competition, tied Chris Randolph's school record of 14 feet, 11 inches / 4.55 meters.
 
More marks are within reach of going down in 2012:
Event                      Current record    Who's close
Men's 200              22.46                      Dusty Duncan, 22.71
Men's 400              49.99                      Dusty Duncan, 50.26
Women's 400       57.16                      Kishia Mitchell, 57.28
 
HEAD OF THE CLASS
Seattle Pacific had four athletes named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District team, which includes indoor track, outdoor track and cross country. Natty Plunkett was on the women's first team; Katy Gross and now-graduated Jennifer Pike were on the second team, and Nate Seely was on the men's second team.
 
Those four, along with 2012 returners Katy Gross, Heidi Laabs-Johnson, Natalie Nobbs, Birttany Tri, Ali Worthen, AJ Baker, and Billy Martin were part of the GNAC All-Academic track and field team.
 
WORTHEN: BEST OF THE BEST AT SPU
After a year of battling injuries, Ali Worthen came back in a big way last year. She won two indoor titles, two outdoor titles, was part of a victorious relay outdoors, and helped Seattle Pacific capture both the GNAC indoor and outdoor team championships.
 
In June, Worthen earned one more honor: She was named winner of the Ron Grady Athlete of the Year award. It is presented annually at the year-end athletic awards banquet, as voted upon by all Seattle Pacific head coaches. That marked the seventh straight year the award has gone to a track and field athlete.
 
SPEEDING UP THE WATCH
As always, qualifying marks for the GNAC and NCAA meets have had some tweaking since last season. Most of the time, it's barely noticeable. But that's not always the case.
 
In the women's 5,000 meters, the GNAC provisional qualifying mark dropped by 11 seconds, from 19:37.38 to 19:26.30 (based on a flat track of longer than 200 meters, which is the case at Dempsey Indoor). But the NCAA provisional time on the same kind of surface is 10 seconds slower than last year – from 17:22.30 to 17:32.30.
 
The automatic qualifying mark in the GNAC women's long jump is six inches longer (now 17 feet, 6¾ inches), and it'll take an additional eight inches (now 33-8½) just to get onto the GNAC provisional list in the women's triple jump.
 
In the men's mile, the GNAC provisional time is five seconds faster than last year (now 4:25.22) and the automatic time is three seconds faster (now 4:19.79). But some of the field marks are lower than last year. Making the GNAC provisional men's high jump list now takes just 6-0¾ (it was 6-4).
 
The GNAC men's pole vault provisional mark is nearly five inches less (now 12-8¾), and the automatic pole vault standard is down six inches to 14-3¼. Even the NCAA provisional qual height is down a couple inches to 15-7.

Click on this link for a complete list of 2012 GNAC and NCAA Division II indoor qualifying marks.
 
POLLING PLACE
The USTFCCCA Division II preseason poll will be released on Jan. 17.
 
UP NEXT
The UW Invitational at Dempsey Indoor is scheduled for Friday and Saturday, Jan. 27 and 28, and it will include multi-event competition (heptathlon for men, pentathlon for women). A limited Friday schedule begins at 1 p.m. A full day of Saturday competition starts at 9 a.m. for running events and 10 a.m. for field events.
 
COACH KARL LERUM
The track and field trend continues at Seattle Pacific – and it's one heck of a successful trend, not only for the Falcons, but also for head coach Karl Lerum.
 
Lerum is starting his seventh year at the SPU helm. In 2011, for the second straight time, his Falcon women pulled an indoor-outdoor GNAC team title sweep. He has been named the West Region women's indoor Coach of the Year and the GNAC indoor Coach of the Year for five straight years. And, of Seattle Pacific's eight straight conference indoor team championships, Lerum has been the man in charge for the last six of those.
 
Lerum stepped up to the Falcons' coaching helm in October 2005, taking over from Jack Hoyt. He worked as an assistant to Hoyt in 2000, and again in 2003. In between, he spent two years as an assistant coach at Trinity College, an NCAA Division III school in Hartford, Conn.